Where employees fail : 26% Coachability - Their inability to accept and implement feedback. 23% Emotional Intelligence - The inability to understand and manage their own emotions and accurately assess the emotions of others. 17% Motivation - Insufficient impetus to achieve their full potential and excel in the job. 15% Temperament - Not having the right attitude and personality for the particular job. 11% Technical competence - The lack of functional or technical skills required to do the job.

( Source : BRW 6 October 2005 from a 3 year study by USA firm Leadership IQ by interviewing 5247 recruitment managers from 312 companies covering 20,000 employees.)


The recommendation was to use behavioural based interviewing and rigorous reference checking targeting personality traits and examples of them. As I always say, past experiences are an indicator of future potential.